Bears return to bourses

KARACHI - The local equity market closed down on Friday on the back of rising political instability and fall in the global capital markets, caused by tense geopolitical situation in the Middle East along with news of a massive tsunami in Japan. A confrontation going on between the judiciary and executive on the removal of National Accountability Bureaus Chairman by the Supreme Court of Pakistan also turned the Karachi stocks into negative. The benchmark KSE 100-index dropped by 80.54 points to close at 12,045.25 points, while the KSE 30-index shed 67.12 points to close at 11,803.46. The KSE 100-index had closed at the level of 12,125.79 on Thursday. Market turnover sharply declined to 67.50 million shares against 103 million shares traded previously while total trading value came at Rs3.29 billion or $38.50 million respectively. The market capitalization amounted to Rs3, 239.08 billion or $37.96 billion from Rs3, 259.91 billion recorded yesterday, KSE daily stock trading statistics said. As far as the future volume of KSE 30-index was concerned, it stood at 7.53 million shares, valuing at Rs674.20 million with a spread of 10.86 per cent. Lotte Pakistan PTA, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited, Arif Habib Corporation and Descon Oxychem, and National Bank of Pakistan were the top volume leaders stocks on the KSE, the KSE report showed. Political uncertainty, limited foreign interest, fall in global commodities kept investors on the sidelines throughout the trading session despite launch of MTS leverage product from next week, according to market expert. Meanwhile, a report issued by a brokerage house revealed that the KSE-100 closed flat at 12,045 level with average daily volumes falling by 40 per cent to 88 million shares by the end of this week. However, the much anticipated launch of MTS next week is likely to improve activity at the local bourse, going forward. Foreigners emerged as net sellers of $6 million during the outgoing week, while banks and individuals were net buyers worth $8.6m and $2.8 million, respectively, the report said. APP adds from Lahore: The Lahore Stock Market on Friday witnessed a bearish trend as LSE-25 index dipped 22.52 points to close at 3660.09 points. The total turnover remained 2.610 million shares against Thursdays 3.873 million shares. Of 94 active shares, 17 improved, 33 gone down while share of 44 companies remained unchanged. Lotte Pakistan PTA ltd, National Bank of Pakistan, and Fauji Fertilizer Bin QA were the volume leaders with Rs 16.06, 78.85 and 43.29 per share, respectively. Dawood Hercules Chemical was the major gainer while Pakistan Oil Fields ltd was figured high on negative column.